I don't own any characters other than Elle Knight. That credit goes to the BBC

10

When Elle woke up her fingers and palms were bandaged and, after several cups of water, she felt immensely better. She had Gaius to thank for that. Merlin watched her nervously, afraid that she might over reach herself again. She finally swatted him away playfully. His supervision was unnecessary. With Gaius' help, they continued their talk about Elements. While they both agreed that they were to represent Water and Wind, they did not know where to look for Earth or Fire. They didn't know of any other sorcerers in Camelot and, even if they did, how did one even broach the taboo topic of magic?

Merlin and Elle were clustered together at the work bench, their heads bent over Merlin's magic book. They had moved on from the Elements to try and find Elle a way home. They dismissed one unlikely idea after another as they examined each page. Merlin had just suggested that Elle take up a trade and find a nice farm boy when Gaius came in with an empty basket. Merlin crashed to the floor as Elle shoved him off the bench.

"I want to go home and you suggest I get comfortable?" Merlin was laughing too hard at her reaction to be upset that she had just dumped him on the ground.

"Sorry, Merlin. I need more yarrow and dittany. Off with you, now." Gaius ruined their fun with a slight frown on his face. It didn't seem that Merlin was looking too hard for a way to send the girl home. That was a conversation he would have to have with the boy when they were alone. Elle sighed and handed Merlin back his illegal book. She watched him leave with the basket still chuckling, and Elle could not help but smile.

Elle stayed in the physician's quarters, picking at her bandages as Gaius moved from one experiment to another and mumbled to himself.

"Gaius?"

He looked up from one of his books. "Hm?"

"Gaius, this isn't how it's supposed to be. I've read the stories about Camelot and King Arthur. They got nearly everything wrong." Elle frowned and chewed on her lip. "In the stories, magic is embraced not banned. And it was Arthur that built Camelot, not his father. Merlin was never a servant. Guinevere was queen, not a handmaid. And Morgana…" Elle thought about the pleasant woman that had toured her around the castle and spoken to her like a friend. "Morgana is Arthur's enemy. Her son kills him."

Gaius listened carefully. "Perhaps they are just stories. I can imagine that things would grow skewed after more than a thousand years."

Elle nodded. She would never make him understand that at the end of the story, Camelot was lost. She excused herself and wandered outside. She was beginning to feel edgy. She left the castle grounds, hoping to find Merlin and relieve her sudden restless energy. She recognized the tree she had slept under her first night in Camelot. She kept going. Something was calling to her.

Elle found the lake, surrounded by trees and glistening in the sun. Her relief was instantaneous. She had been feeling dry since her encounter with the dragon, and a swim was exactly what she needed.

Her swimsuit beneath her clothes, as usual, Elle slunk out of her dress and stepped into the lake. She would have been satisfied with a pool, or even the ocean, but this lake thrummed with a power she did not understand. It was intoxicating. The water welcomed her like an old friend and she had to deal with its coddling for a bit. It rolled over her skin, caressing, tickling, chastising her for not arriving sooner.

Elle dunked herself and stayed down, letting herself relax amid the cleansing element. Breathing underwater was never something she had to be concerned with. She simply could. Still she could not ignore the sense that she was led there by some unknown force. She could feel it still, somewhere in the water. Nothing alive, just a presence that made her skin tingle and excited her gift.

Magic, in its purest form.

It whispered to her, drawing her deeper into the inky black folds of the depths. The lake was far deeper than it appeared. Far deeper than was possible.

Water is ageless, it said. Wind is timeless. Earth is eternal. Fire may burn out, but it can always be rekindled. What was once can be again, when the Elements a line.

Elle gasped, which was a strange sensation underwater. Whatever it was, it was talking about the Elements. Talking to her.

Time will not touch them, though memory fade and reason fail. When the Elements rejoin, what was once will be again.

Elle hated riddles. She listened as the magic repeated itself over and over. She was going to have to tell Merlin about this. Between the two of them and Gaius, they might be able to weed out some sense.

Elle launched herself to the surface. The air felt cold and wonderful against her skin. She swam about lazily for a bit, trying to think up some sort of theory on her own. She'd start looking bad if she let Merlin come up with all the answers. She was so lost in her own thoughts she didn't hear the crash of footsteps through the brush or the derisive laughter from the bank. It wasn't until she caught motion out of the corner of her eye that Elle realized she was in danger.

The only way to describe them was thugs. There were six of them, filthy and scarred from their hard lives as brigands. They were at the bank staring at her and Elle became miserably conscious that bikinis were not normal apparel for ladies in Camelot. She met a dozen greedy eyes and stayed away from the bank, out of their reach.

"Look at this, lads. A pretty forest flower has shed its petals." One of the men, a brute with a scar across his face, found her dress in the grass and picked it up. He smelt it and leered out at Elle. "Has no one warned you girl? There are dangerous men about."

Well, duh.

It might have been wise to stay silent and simply sink back beneath the waves, let the idiot thieves think she was a water sprite or demon. But Elle's mouth was not about to let her do something smart.

"Yo. Hands off."

The men laughed at that. A shorter man grabbed her dress from the scared one and pulled out a knife. "That's not polite, milady. I think we'll all have a piece." He began to hack at the dress, tearing it apart. "Of the dress and of you."

Elle rolled her eyes. Unless they had plans of going into the water, she was safe.

"Come out the water, lass."

Elle laughed, humorlessly. "Are you stupid as well as ugly? I druther live at the bottom of this lake than take one step closer to you." The men's suggestive smiles vanished.

Oh, little sister, the water whispered and Elle could feel it through her body. Flee.

That was when Elle realized that more than one of the men carried ornately decorated staffs tipped with colored glass or polished rock. Beyond thieves, they were sorcerers.

"Shit."

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